The Love of God (12/9-12)

09-12 December 2015 - The Love of God – Manna by Dorothy Callies

Oh, I pray that this fresh manna will open your heart, mind, and soul to grasp the true love that God has for you as He has to me. Sigh!!! How awesome to experience His loving Word, His Presence!

Question: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Roman 8:35a) Paraphrase: “I am persuaded that ‘nothing’ shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 37-39 See below).

Theme: THE LOVE OF GOD . . . IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.

*Only “in Christ Jesus” has God’s love been manifest, and only in Him do we experience it. Only as we abide in Christ Jesus as “our Lord” can we have the certainty that we will never be separated from God’s love. **If anyone fails in his spiritual life, it will not be from a lack of divine grace and love (v.31-34), nor from external force or overwhelming adversity (v. 35-39), but from his own neglect to remain in Christ Jesus.  [*Commentary from The Full Life Study Bible].

Dorothy: God had already loved us so much that nothing would stop God from ever loving us. Now the next question, what are the things that could make a person give up on God even though God still loves this person very much? I wrote the list of things from KJV, Romans 8:35 to give us the idea. Then NLT from Romans 8:35, 37-39 explained more clear that nothing could keep God from loving us so much through Christ. Then comes the famous song called: The Love of God written by Frederick M. Lehman 1917.

1. Shall tribulation?  When you are going through so much trouble that you felt like you had enough trouble? So you give up with God? Our answer should be “No way.” Why? Because God still loves us. Our troubles doesn’t stop God from loving us. Hallelujah!

2. Or distress?  When you are in deep depression, does this mean that God gave you up because you are feeling depress? The answer is no because God’s love has never left you.

3. Or persecution?  Many Christians of the world are going through persecution. Ivan, the Russian Christian Soldier went through terrible torture yet Ivan knew that God still loved him and Ivan didn’t stop loving God because of torture. What a testimony!

4. Or famine?  Would shortage of food makes a person to give up God? When there’s famine in another world, does it mean God doesn’t love them? No, God still loves them.    

5. Or nakedness?  If a person lack clothing for certain weather like winter, would that make a person to give up God thinking He doesn’t loves this person enough? God’s love is still there. 

6. Or peril?  In time of danger, will we continue to be faithful to God? God’s love for us remain the same. God does not change.

7. Or sword?  We hear stories of Christians being “threatened with death” when they stand up for Christ. Their love for God was very strong because they know in their hearts, God still loves them.

The New Living Translation from Romans 8:35, “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’ love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death?” v37) No, despite of all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

V38) And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. v39) Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 Song: The Love of God

1.      The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin. 

o    Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

2.    When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

3.    Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Frederick Lehman tells us that verse 3 “had been found penciled on the wall of a patient’s room in an insane asylum after he had been carried to his grave.” While it is only supposition that he was the one who adapted the Jewish author’s poem to leave us these well-known lines, if the account is true it shows in any case that he highly esteemed the message.

[From Timeless Truth, Free online library on music]